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It's all been a terrible misunderstanding...

'Several telephone calls have taken place in the context of Pope Francis’ personal pastoral relationships. Since they do not in any way form part of the Pope's public activities, no information or comments are to be expected from the Holy See Press Office.
That which has been communicated in relation to this matter, outside the scope of personal relationships, and the consequent media amplification, cannot be confirmed as reliable, and is a source of misunderstanding and confusion. Therefore, consequences relating to the teaching of the Church are not to be inferred from these occurrences.'

Oh...well, that's cleared that one up then. Thanks for that! We all know that the Pope cannot change the teaching of the Church and certainly not by calling a random woman in Argentina, because he is not Almighty God. What we do not know is what the Pope said. Of course, everyone's entitled to their privacy, but given the forest fire travelling across the world's media, I think the Vatican is going to need more than just one bucket of water in order to put this blaze out.

Cracking. I mean, why say, "The Pope assures me he would never have said that and would never say that" when a more long-winded and vague statement which leaves much to interpretation will suffice?

Nobody
can confirm, or say with any certainty what the Pope said on the phone,
except the person who claims to have talked to the Pope.

But there's nothing to worry about.

Got that? God help us.

Meanwhile, The Catholic Herald is reporting that the woman at the centre of this uniquely dangerous ****storm, one...

Mrs Lisbona, who later called a Buenos Aires radio station to discuss
the phone call, also claimed that in reference to her priest the Pontiff
said, “There are some priests who are more papist than the Pope.” She
also said that Francis told her he was “dealing with the issue” of
Communion for the divorced and remarried.

Really? These priests who take Christ's words seriously are more 'papist than the Pope', are they? He's 'dealing with it', is he? Interesting. I hope to God he said no such thing because I could have sworn the Son of God 'dealt with this issue' already while He was walking on Earth, but I guess the Lord Jesus simply doesn't know His place nowadays. Who do you think you are, Lord? The Second Person of the Blessed Trinity or something? Everyone knows that You cannot be as Christian as the Pope!

The latest papal insult, again aimed at Christians calls out those who profess Christ but who are, "Like bats. And with a little sense of humour we can say that there are
Christian bats who prefer the shadows to the light of the presence of
the Lord.” Meanwhile, while Christ was crystal clear, the Pope's true thoughts on divorce and remarriage remain as shadowy as can be.

I don't mean to rant but before Easter Wednesday 'The Vortex' was the title of an online Catholic web programme hosted by Michael Voris. Today, it is the Catholic Church. On Holy Thursday, the Holy Father asked us to examine our consciences and ask ourselves, in the story of the Passion of Our Lord, which character we are. "Are you like Judas?" he asked. Well, I must confess that on a bad day, I can be all of them, including the traitor (apart from Jesus). If this story is not put to bed in a more emphatic manner than it has been today, then what are Catholics to ask Pope Francis but 'Are you Peter or are you not?'

Long before he became Pope, Jorge Bergoglio was a bouncer at a party venue. Being a Christian isn't a guarantee of Heaven. His Holiness surely knows that, but neither is being a Pope. There's another Party Venue with another bouncer. I hope His Holiness isn't wearing trainers, be they black, if not red.We'll leave that for Fr Lombardi to clarify in due time.While you're at it, why not release the rest of the Fatima secret, or, as fidelity to the doctrine of the Faith collapses in a heap in Rome, do we just have to guess that too?

'The dogma of the Faith will always be preserved in Portugal, etc...'

~ Our Lady of Fatima

Where might it not be preserved?

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fatima indeed-we are living it right now as pope benedict 16th stated when he read the third secret.the resignation of benedict and the resulting ,catastrophic,election of the bishop of rome is,in my mind ,the fulfilling of the prophecies.we have time to change and mend our ways but we need a good shepherd.please god-for the sake of the world- we will find one!!pope francis please wake up!god bless .philip johnson.

The Pope has been in high office and in the public eye for many decades. He has employed a PR company, which is supportive of intrinsic evils. He knows what he's doing, and he meant to do it, knowing the disastrous effect it would have. He is anything but stupid or naive. It is all of a piece with the other things he's done to question the indissolubility of marriage, mortal sin, and the necessary state for receipt of Our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament. The time for making tortuous excuses is well and truly up - that simply adds to the evil done. Let us pray more, and refuse to be bullied into silence or acquiescence regarding any attacks on the Deposit of Faith. Let us not jettison Faith or reason.

We will never know what was said in the exchange between this woman and the Pope because (I presume) it is protected by the seal between priest and penitent (even if the penitent is given to wantonly gab about the alleged content of the discussion).

In charity to Pope Francis, and from what I glean of the various 'facts' available, Pope Francis may have extrapolated from the 14 September 1994 letter of Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, then Prefect of the CDF, to all of the Bishops of the Catholic Church concerning the reception of Holy Communion by divorced and remarried members of the Faithful within which letter Cardinal Ratzinger stated:

"The faithful who persist in such a situation may receive Holy Communion only after obtaining sacramental absolution, which may be given only "to those who, repenting of having broken the sign of the Covenant and of fidelity to Christ, are sincerely ready to undertake a way of life that is no longer in contradiction to the indissolubility of marriage. This means, in practice, that when for serious reasons, for example, for the children's upbringing, a man and a woman cannot satisfy the obligation to separate, they 'take on themselves the duty to live in complete continence, that is, by abstinence from the acts proper to married couples'"(8). In such a case they may receive Holy Communion as long as they respect the obligation to avoid giving scandal."

Under such conditions the faithful may receive Holy Communion if no scandal is given, i.e. receiving the Holy Eucharist in a parish where one's situation as a 'divorced - remarried' Catholic is known and may give rise to scandal.

This woman may...may only have heard that she might partake of the Holy Eucharist. The rest of the nuance may have been lost on her.

The woman in question may not have desired to get into a public discussion about life-time continence.

heheh - great post. The Church is the vortex; does that make Frankie the papal voris? They both like to do unlent like things during lent. they both have a gift for vitriol. they both have an 'o' in their surnames. weird.

he descended to a new level of insult with the 'bat' comments (I wonder if he saves these things up, or they just come to him). and good point, how shadowy is all this private phone call business, which is really, we all know, going to be a worldwide event once he hangs up?

re the message of Our Lady of Fatima: 'after 1960 the devil will succeed in leaving the souls of the faithful abandoned by their leaders [by causing] religous and priests to fall away from their beautiful vocation dragging numerous souls to hell'. Sister Lucia to Fr. Fuentes, 1957. 'False Friends of Fatima' is a good read. Online also is 'The Devil's Final Battle', a compilation of the writings on the subject:

What can't be claimed about these wretched 'phone calls is that they are made on the spur of the moment. The Vatican postal and secretarial staff must sort thousands of letters to the Pope and will have been instructed which type to single out. Only the most likely dozen to appeal to Francis will be placed before him for consideration. So he will know exactly what the query is before he makes the call and will, presumably, have formed his answers/advice; at the same time being fully aware that his alleged comments - understood or misunderstood - are likely to go viral.Those who don't speak Spanish and Italian can rest easy that they are unlikely to get The Call. A pause for prayer and reflection is what I prescribe.

When Jesus encountered the Samaritan woman at the well, a woman married many times, and His disciples were not present, do you believe He thought: "Uh Oh! No witnesses to what I will say to this woman. If I do say anything to her she'll misrepresent it, dash off and tell her friends, and probably post it on Facebook. I'd better keep stum." John 4: 27 - 29Well...maybe not the Facebook part. Let us above all things be charitable here. Let's be wise as seprents but not have our hearts grow cold.Peace

Of course charity in all things Liam, but I think you missed the point of my comment if your mention of cold hearts refers to me.

I merely question the wisdom of such a phone-call and the world-wide effect of its "misinterpretation " if you like, given all the other things that are going on about marriage (Kasper etc.,)in the Church at the moment. It's messy. And quite frankly I'm rather fed up with the Pope's messes - that every one has to go around cleaning up afterwards..

It is very unsettling to me that a Pope would risk such misinterpretation on such a sensitive and important matter to all serious Catholics.

Our Blessed Lord and the Samaritan woman is another matter entirely...it was a "one to one" "heart to heart" encounter...and I'm sure she straightened her life out immediately after that wonderful meeting...

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